Helping Around the House

Some of the U-17 Men's National Team spent their Sunday afternoon working with the referee department to film an instructional DVD. The segment concerned free kicks and the delaying tactics that defenders often use to stop them, such as kicking the ball away or standing in front of the ball.

We're not sure they knew what they were getting into, but they found out for sure when Alex Shinsky lined up to take a free kick with the wall running forward and one of the "directors" (and we use that term loosely) said "Go ahead, hit them with the ball, it's more realistic that way!" Much thanks to Perry Kitchen, Jonathan Kempin, Spencer Richey, Tyler Polak, Eriq Zavaleta and Alex for helping to improve the level of officiating of American soccer.